All That Work
by imjustaguy
Summary: Grissom explains to Brass all the work the CSI team has put into closing a case. One Shot Complete


Disclaimer – I own nothing related to CSI or its various spin-offs. Really I don't. You can run all the scientific tests you want and you won't find any evidence of my ownership of the anything CSI connected. I am also not making any money off of this story.

* * *

All That Work … 

"Grissom," Jim Brass said. "About the Hickel murder."

"My team's been working none stop for the last 90 hours. We have a break in the case," Grissom interrupted. "We found a footprint and the crime scene."

"Grissom…."

"You see, the killer was wearing size 10 shoes," Grissom patiently explained, not wanting to lose his rhythm. "But clearly he normally wears size 9s. He was being a little too tricky"

"Gil, that's not what I wanted …"

"You see the depth of the print was exactly 3.759 centimeters," Grissom responded. "The average man who wears a size 10 shoe weighs 105.389 KGs. Given the soil conditions at the time we that person should have left a print that was 4.628 centimeters deep. To make a print at this depth our killer had to weigh 88.687 KGs. That corresponds to a size nine shoe. In addition, the depression on the front end of the shoe was .578 cm shallower than the center of the print. That indicates that the front part of the shoe was empty. The killer wore over sized shoes."

"That's great but …"

"Did you know most of the rubber used make the tread on boots comes from rubber plants grown in Venezuela?" Grissom asked.

"No I didn't. But …"

"We tested a small sample of the boots that was imbedded in the footprint," Grissom began to show a just a touch of excitement. "Greg found traces of a brodium hydroxide compound in the rubber. Venezuelan rubber growers don't use brodium hydroxide. The only growers that do are in the Czech Republic."

"They grow rubber in the Czech Republic?"

"No, they don't" Grissom replied. "They use it on wheat crops. They also make work boots at a plant that is located next to a wheat field."

"Look Gil …"

"Warrick ran a trace and found out that only six stores in the Las Vegas area sell that brand of work boot," Grissom plowed on. "I had my people interview the sales people at each of the stores. One woman remembered selling a pair of oversized boots to man five days ago. Unfortunately she couldn't give us very good description and he paid cash."

"Gil you really didn't …"

"Fortunately the store hasn't done its weekly deposits yet," Grissom didn't seem to notice that Brass was trying to get his attention. "Sara was able to test the cash the store had on hand. Now we didn't find any useful prints. But we did find three $20 bills that only had the store clerk's finger prints on them. One of the bills had a red stain on the corner. It was marinara sauce."

"Marinara sauce?" Brass was starting to get confused.

"Yes marinara sauce," Grissom said. "The strange thing was ratio of tomato to olive oil to shallots to garlic to basil. It was 10-1-3-2-2. We compared that ration to recipes used at all the restaurants in Las Vegas and learned that only two have marinara sauces that have that exact ratio of ingredients."

"That's incredible Grissom. But …"

"Sara and Catherine spent all of last night interviewing the employees at both restaurants," Grissom continued. "Six nights ago, the day before the day before work boots were purchased, our victim ate at Antonio's on Fifth Street. The waiter said someone was with her for a few minutes while she ate. Again we didn't get a good description. But Sara found trace amounts of chewing gum on the underside of the table the two used."

"Chewing gum?"

"Specifically watermelon and apple flavored bubble gum made by the Zany Candy Company," Grissom said. "Nick found a Zany gum wrapper three and half blocks east of the crime scene. Watermelon and apple flavored. We got trace DNA from the sample at the restaurant and it shows that our killer is probably of Mediterranean descent. Now we don't have a name yet but I'm sure with a couple of more days we'll' …"

"Miguel DeSoto," Brass said.

"What?"

"The killers name is Miguel DeSoto" Brass repeated. "He dropped his wallet at the crime scene. You remember I picked it up," he said holding up an evidence bag. "Airport security nabbed him last night trying to get out of the city. I just got a confession out of him twenty minutes ago. I came by to tell you the case was closed. Good work though."


End file.
